The world was quiet.
Too quiet.
The winds that once howled through the broken Academy now whispered like gentle ghosts.
The ground, shattered by gods, lay still — dust hanging heavy in the golden twilight.
And in the center of it all, kneeling on cracked stone,
was Arin Veyla — cradling the broken body of Kai Arashi in her trembling arms.
Kai's breathing was shallow.
Each rise and fall of his chest was a battle.
A rebellion against death itself.
Arin pressed her forehead against his, her hands glowing faintly with healing light.
But it wasn't enough.
No power she possessed could fix a soul burned so deeply by the clash of cosmic forces.
Tears streamed down her face.
"Please," she whispered,
voice raw and desperate.
"You can't leave us.
You can't leave me."
She remembered:
The boy who once walked alone through crowded halls.
The warrior who refused to kneel, even before gods.
The broken soul who still chose hope over hate.
He had become everything she had once dreamed a true hero would be.
Not because he was perfect.
Because he chose freedom.
Because he chose humanity.
Even when it broke him.
Above them, the Catalyst descended.
Their radiant form flickered, unstable — cracks spidering across their once-perfect aura.
Their golden eye and abyssal eye dimmed.
They stood over Arin and Kai silently.
No anger.
No triumph.
Only… silence.
And something almost like mourning.
The Catalyst spoke, voice low:
"He defied me."
"He chose death over eternity."
"And yet…"
They knelt slowly, lowering themselves to Kai's level.
For the first time, there was no god-like power in their movements.
Only a deep, ancient sorrow.
"Maybe…"
"Maybe he was never the mistake."
Arin looked up sharply, hatred blazing in her tear-soaked eyes.
"You talk about mistakes and cycles," she spat,
"but you never understood him."
She clutched Kai tighter.
"He didn't fight because he hated the world."
"He fought because he loved it… even when it didn't deserve it."
The Catalyst flinched.
A subtle movement, almost imperceptible.
But it was there.
The crack inside their soul widened.
From the broken heavens,
a new star began to shine.
Faint at first, almost invisible against the scarred sky.
But growing stronger.
Brighter.
It wasn't light from the old cycles of heroes and monsters.
It was something new.
Something born from the boy who refused to become either.
Hope.
The Catalyst rose slowly.
They looked to the star.
They looked to Kai.
And for the first time in countless eons,
they bowed their head.
Not in defeat.
But in respect.
"Then…" the Catalyst said softly,
"Let the world be remade… not by kings… not by gods… but by those who choose to fight for it."
They turned away.
Their wings folded inward.
Their light dimmed.
And with a final glance toward Arin and Kai,
the Catalyst dissolved into the wind — leaving behind only fragments of their existence.
Fragments that would fuel the new dawn.
Arin sat alone, holding Kai,
as the first true sunrise the world had seen in centuries
broke across the ruins.
And somewhere deep inside Kai's battered heart,
a faint beat answered the dawn.
A promise:
"I will rise again."